Joyce Brothers, an American psychologist said that "Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery". Listening is more than comprehending the meaning of what someone says. Sometime ago, I wrote an article on if you are listening to respond or listening to understand. Though many of us genuinely try to "listen to understand", it may… Continue reading What Stops you From Really Listening to Others?

Have you encountered these situations below? We are adopting Scrum, I want my team/management/organization to listen to me, but they are not listening to me, what should I do? Scrum says self-organizing teams, so I (manager/scrum master) am going let them figure out everything. Am I doing it right? We want our estimates to be accurate,… Continue reading Scrum is not a Substitute for Common Sense

When organizations are adopting Scrum, they are always confronted with how long their Sprints should be. Scrum merely provides guidelines that Sprints can be anywhere from 1 week to 4 weeks long. The Sprint is a feedback loop, providing an opportunity for the stakeholders and the Scrum Team to Inspect and Adapt (the product, and the way… Continue reading How Long Should my Sprints be?

As a coach and facilitator, it is not uncommon that I get pulled into resolving conflicts. And before I agree to facilitate, I work out some "working agreements" or behaviors which will be adhered to, during the discussion. Among other things, I try to work something along the lines of "giving other person the space to… Continue reading Are you Listening to Respond? Or Listening to Understand ?

One responsibility of Scrum Master is to influence teams, stakeholders and the entire organization to embrace Scrum. They are also responsible for helping stakeholders understand which of their interactions (with the Dev. Teams) are helpful and which of them are not. But helping people change their old behavior is challenging. When we are unsure about… Continue reading Scrum Master as an Influencer…

The Scrum Guide refers to Scrum Master as a teacher, a facilitator, as a change agent and as a coach. His power is indirect and is largely due to his expertise in Scrum. One of her responsibilities is to help Development Teams, Product Owner and the whole organization adhere to the rules of the framework.… Continue reading Scrum Master as an encourager …

It is important for the team to have a shared understanding of what work needs to be done to achieve the Sprint Goal. Sprint Burn-down Chart is one of the tools used by the Team, during the Sprint, to manage themselves to achieve the Sprint Goal. A while ago I wrote about the . One… Continue reading Burning down tasks(hours)- Is it worth it?